WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 25, 2004

Jerry Kelly

JERRY KELLY: He drove it in the rough on that long par 4. Was it 14? So I knew he was going to have a tough position, but I hit a great 3-iron up there to about 15 feet, so it put the pressure on him to have to get something hard out of that rough. From there on, I made a good birdie on the next hole, but he made a bogey. I didn't hit my best shots coming down the actual stretch, but it'll only get better as the week progresses, I think.

Q. Did you get some confidence out of some things you were able to do later in the round?

JERRY KELLY: Yeah, exactly. I kind of know how I didn't get it done the last few, but he was worried about that last wedge shot that I had in. And actually, I knew once it went a little left that I was getting it because everything would have been short and right, and he said, oh, get up. I said no problem, that's getting there.

Q. You spent 20 minutes with Rick?

JERRY KELLY: Rick Smith.

Q. What day was that? Tuesday or Monday?

JERRY KELLY: That was Monday. You know, I've been working with my brother-in-law, Jim Shoeman, you guys know him, and he got me in the best position I've ever been in on the way back, and it gave me more room to drop the club than I've ever had.

Q. Which turned out not to be a good thing?

JERRY KELLY: The worst thing is after I got the lesson with Rick, I went and looked back, I had videotaped a lesson with Jim and he told me the exact same thing about getting the hands down, but all I paid attention to from his lesson was the back swing, and that's what got me into a worse funk than I was in before.

I was happy to see him start striking the 3-irons and 4-irons and 5-irons well.

Q. You think this can be the start of something maybe?

JERRY KELLY: I'm as healthy as I've ever been. I feel so damn strong it's unbelievable, and the amount of balls that I've hit and the amount of time I've put into this game and not be tired afterwards. You know, I hit probably 500 balls in the rain after the third round at Riviera. I was fine that day. I felt good.

That's something different for me, so I'm really excited to go on. I've got a better back swing now, and now I'm getting a better down swing. The swing and the health together, I feel pretty good about going forward.

Q. So who's got bouncier greens this time of year, La Costa or Yahara?

JERRY KELLY: Odana is bumpier than here. It's tough to putt on the west coast. You know, sometimes I like just aiming it and hitting it and knowing that I have no control out there rather than having perfect greens. You know you can blame it on yourself. I blame it on someone every time.

Q. You played so well here, you won a bunch of matches this year. You kept your head down and you were in the semi finals here.

JERRY KELLY: I love match play. You know, it's kill or be killed every single day. You know, there is no -- what I was thinking out there is you can get the pressure of winning a tournament every day and you don't get that in a normal tournament because you don't have a chance to win if you don't get past your day.

Q. It's kind of more manly than regular golf, don't you think?

JERRY KELLY: I think there's no question about it. You have to go out there and play like men, mano a mano. You know, in stroke play you're playing against the golf course, and this way you're playing against a man. You beat an opponent, so it's a little different mind set. When I get 2 over I'm pissed at myself, I'm hitting the golf course and I'm mad. When I get 2 down to someone, I let them walk in front of me and I stare at them the whole way.

Q. You check them into the trees?

JERRY KELLY: If it was legal I'd be doing it.

Q. Anything you learned at Presidents Cup about match play?

JERRY KELLY: No question. I was 2 down to Tim Clark in the round and I actually brought that out here. I was down in every single match I played. I lost the first hole every single time. The second hole I went one up and it was like -- I've never been there, ready to get down and get my clubs working.

End of FastScripts.